So, with savings so low...

Graham_Devon

Really2 wrote: »

If you are going to that GD best go for high risk, TBH when I start it will be the same.

My Idea is to go high risk, and set my self a sell level, cash in (if I still can).
Then that money is split to two funds, repeat first step.

If I lose, I was prepared to lose it anyway.

That's kind of my thoughts.

Like Jonny said, I've found myself 10% down on one, simply because I was click happy. HOWEVER, on the other hand, I'm now not click happy, and it's a relatively small cost to pay for the education.

I have a power portfolio with pretend money in it. Trouble is, I invested in Xstrata in 2009, at 423p.

I think it's that that has annoyed me, and spurred me on, as it keeps saying "this is what you could have had".

Probably greed making me more interested in oil discovery type companies.

I'll probably set up an investment plan for long term shares, with dividends, and keep another account for playing and gambling.

Jonny, I'll check out OTC later, thanks.

Batchy

I did this and invested a bigger but still small amount, and the dividends got froze with the companies i selected which didnt provide it any income, they then sold some of my shares to pay the fees which resulted in more losses. As well as a share sale transaction fee too.

Its a bad idea to invest small in shares via an ISA, IMO.

But good luck! Hope you can make it work out for you!

Really2

GD not sure what bank you are with but First Direct do some good products on share dealing.

Graham_Devon

lemonjelly wrote: »

With your amount being towards the lower end of the scale, have you considered a S&S ISA instead?

AIUI and I may well be wrong, the sharebuilder (via a couple of companies) is a better bet for the types of small investments I'm making to start with.

The £1.50 charge, although limiting, in terms of never knowing what the price may actually be when the transaction takes place, allows for a slow build up.

It's more expensive for the one off deals, but they appear to be having some christmas deals at the moment, like yesterday, where I bought into tesco and BP, and can now top up cheaply. However, it's no good topping up £25 a time, which seems to be their suggestion, as £1.50 is expensive at that level.

Once I'm into the swing of things, will look into other products, as don't think the sharebuilder would be very good for a long term investment, just want to get my foot in, and I'm sure most people starting out find themselves eager to build up a small portfolio, probably making many mistakes. It becomes addictive!

Watching BP like a hawk today, my first few pennies proft, and it feels good (although i can't release them, as if I did, I would be down thanks to selling charges, but hey, still feels good )

damanpunk

If you were worried at being 10% down then stay away from the oilies, with the majority of them you are looking at being down -50% if they hit a duster (although if they've found oil previously it won't be so bad)

My advice is to stick it all into Mulberry (MUL:LSE), they are a womens clothing brand and can seriously do no harm. One of the least volatile shares I've ever seen and only ever seem to rise.

Lennys_Shinpad

AMC = Multibagger.

DYOR

Graham_Devon

Lennys_Shinpad wrote: »

AMC = Multibagger.

DYOR

I've actually got this on my watch list.

I'd buy in at around 6.5-7p.

Generali

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Yep, thats how I made my initial mistake.

Halifax were offering £2 a deal yesterday, but nothing offered today. So bought in with the £2 deal, and will await something like that again with these smaller amounts.

Just learning at the moment, which is why I've set small amounts I'm happy to lose.

All got to start somewhere, but I do like the idea of the penny type shares which have potential.

Happy to admit my mistakes, as it generally means you can get better advice next time.

I'm using Halifax Sharebuilder, and with the longtermers, can simply add to them once a month or something for £1.50, but can deal realtime any time I like. BP has come through for me already, and I'm break even now with all fee's included.

I've commited 1k at the moment, but once I'm a little more comfortable, will commit a lot more. The 1k I'm treating as an educational fund. Just got £500 left to play with and seem to be drawn to the high risk extreme type shares!

AVOID PENNY SHARES!!!!!!

A tip (if you don't mind buying foreign muck) Lend Lease Corp on the ASX. Pays a 5% yield. Has 2 years of dividends tucked away in the bank.

If I were you I'd be looking for companies without too much debt paying a good yield that is likely to remain that way (look up the dividend cover published in the FT on a Tuesday, it should be at or around 2 on a high yield stock). I've not looked at UK stocks in a while but Big Pharma perhaps??? Avoid the banks except perhaps HSBC and Standard Chartered. Utilities sometimes pay a decent yield, especially smaller ones that nobody cares about.

Borrow a copy of A Random Walk Down Wall Street - an investment classic. Fooled by Randomness is also excellent as is How to Read the Financial Pages. The last one is a real beginners book and very easy to read. All of them though are for the non-specialist.

If you get bitten by the bug, look into some trading psychology as there are plenty of ways to bite yourself on the bum (eg confirmation bias - something many bulls and bears on here appear very guilty of).

Hank_Rearden

Have you tried using tradefair or similar? As far as I can tell it keeps transaction costs down, and CGT at bay. All much simpler. Of course, it lends itself to high levels of gearing, so beware!!

Generali

One piece of advice I was given was keep a spreadsheet of what you bought and why. Don't fool yourself that your an investment genius if you buy a stock for a yield and then 2 years later a bid comes out of the blue and your stock shoots up in price.

Oh and remember, nobody ever went broke taking a profit.